Watered the plants and helped to carry out a deep clean and brighten up the space!

On a warm, bright evening in Digbeth, Nancy joined for her first task with Goodgym! The two of us and Karen from Friends of the Earth made for a small yet mighty team ready for some deep cleaning and a spot of gardening.

Our focus was the side entrance, with beautiful rays of sunshine beaming through the windows! We gave the gloriously green floors a good sweep, scrub (a little like we were playing curling!) and a mop. We also got into the nooks and crannies of bookshelves and skirting boards. The plants were thanking Nancy for keeping them hydrated... lots and lots of watering can refills were in motion!

Fun evening all round and the area was looking quite shiny by the time we headed off, thanks to a great team effort!

We had a brilliant evening at St Martin’s in the Bullring, a beautiful church full of activity and friendly people. Morwenna, Nathan and I had a warm welcome from Tina and Rich, who showed us the outdoor area in need of some weeding and tidying.

What a fascinating surprise! We found ourselves looking out over Digbeth level with double-decker buses, all set with lots of tools to clear brambles, sweep paving and dig through soil. It was a big team effort from us all and a regular church volunteer, Rob, also joined in!

We were glad of the sunny evening, beautiful church architecture and lively city centre buzz all around us. We all enjoyed it and were happy to leave everything looking that bit clearer than when we arrived.

We had a great turn out at GG Brum tonight back at St Thomas Nursery School.

Jonny biked with Morwenna running and Christina also on her bike. The rest of the group walked, with Eve and James fresh from their Birmingham Half Marathon exploits!

The task was weeding and creosoting, hence the pun. We got some nice weeding before and after pictures and we got the 'story seat' and the greenhouse creosoted, so it was a great task done :)

To fast forward before we even begin, we were super excited to find a bucket stating ‘The A Team’ - it really was a great night of teamwork at Friends of the Earth!

Hugh had previously joined us on a litter pick in the JQ and he was so helpful and welcoming, standing in and showing us the ropes as he stood in for his colleague. Eve and Annie checked through the job list and the three of us rummaged through the stash of materials brilliantly positioned behind the bike rack, all ready for us to crack on!

While Eve and Hugh swept up piles of leaves and twigs around the side of the building, Annie took a bag and picked up some litter on surrounding streets - returning with lots of support to trim trailing ivy off the silver birch, ensuring it looked nice and tidy!

The space was soon looking pretty clear and we just had some weeding to do out front. Kept us warm having plenty to do and we could feel the warmth and festive vibes from The Warehouse Café too!

Special thanks again to Hugh, who offered a spontaneous helping hand as well as guiding us to compost bins and sharing all sorts of useful knowledge! And Eve rocked up to run and do a good deed after spending a busy day away on work - r e s p e c t all round!

Friends of the Earth is always varied and fun, a lovely team and we usually learn interesting stuff too - this week’s was no different and we can’t wait to be back helping out in the new year!